The Spartoi: Their Newest Member Melena
It was a beautiful morning in Crocus. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and the aroma of the flowers was magnificent. Through the streets of the capitol city Odin walked with Melena. "We'll be there shortly," he said. "How do you feel about meeting your new guild mates?" Melena smiled a little. "I'm a little nervous!" Melena couldn't help but admitt as she walked with Odin. She never been to Crocus so everything was new to her and she looked like a little kid as she took in the new area with awe. "Don't worry," said Odin. "I'm sure they'll adore you. The Spartoi have never had a girl in their ranks before, so I'm sure they'll take a liking to you immediately." He said this with a slight chuckle. The two continued on towards the guild hall. "Here we are." The guild hall was nothing like anything she had ever seen before, mostly because it was completely underground. The only light in the hall was from green illumination lacrimas, giving the place its own sense of beauty. A man with black hair and two swords walked up to them. He bore the Dragon Gunfire guild mark on his led shoulder, a white dragon. As he entered, the area began to feel warm, the man giving a welcoming presence. His aura was in direct contrast to his comrade. He wore the white guild mark on his armor, on his right shoulder. Clad in black armor, and having incredibly pale skin and red eyes. He would've been confused for an albino if it wasn't thanks to his jet black hair. He bore somewhat of an indifferent scowl, and his own aura induced fear as opposed to welcome. Upon seeing Odin and Melena however, his aura immediately dissipated, leaving only a momentary feeling of fear towards him, if Melena had felt any. He sighed, and tried to smile, but he could tell it didn't look natural and immediately stopped. "Hello," said the more welcoming of the two. "You must be Melena Harriet. I'm Aether Cade, guild master of Dragon Gunfire. Odin's told me a bit about you, but I'm interested in seeing your development myself." He gestured at the other man in the armor. "This is my cousin, Jason Gaebolg. He's the program manager of the Spartoi. He may come of as a bit rough around the edges, but you'll get used to it. The other members of the Spartoi are more loyal to him than me." "Please stop talking Aether," said Jason. "I can speak for myself." "That's true," said Aether, "but you're people skills have always been less than up to par." "Anyways," interjected Odin, trying to change the subject. "How's the replacement sword been treating you Aether?" "Excellently," said Aether. "There's nothing it hasn't been able to cut through yet." "Good to hear," said Odin. "Anyways, we should go introduce her to the other Spartoi. They must be dying to meet her." "That's true," said Jason. "Alex seemed ecstatic when he found out that our new member was a girl." Melena didn't at first hear the voices, she was to busy looking around the place. Her old guild, Kruel but it wasn't pretty. Her guild was messy and always seemed spooky to put it into words but the hall was nothing like that. The only single thing that seemed to scare Melena at least a tiny bit was Aether, she had got the impression that he wasn't too fond of her but even so she smiled, nodded and acted as friendly as she could. Melena already understood the fact that being nice to the higher ups and not getting angry at them will more and likely although you to get on, although Dragon Gunfire isn't a dark guild Melena could already guess that she wouldn't last long if she acted like she did. Melena looked at Jason, her new boss in some ways, he seemed a lot kinder. She didn't even notice the wave and smile she had gave him but the way he talked seemed a lot kinder than Aether and just hearing a normal, family dispute made her more welcome. It made her feel relaxed since she was use to being up tight and following Flora around everywhere. Smiling some more Melena started to listen in, she realized now it was more important to listen in. "Replacement sword?" Melena couldn't help but ask as Odin started to talk, she winced a little as she said it, she felt like this wasn't a conversation she should be in but better yet Melena was part of the family now so she was guessing it wouldn't be that bad. Melena smile disappeared as she turned to Jason, not that she was upset but it was sore on her - she hadn't been smiling as long as she had for ages. "Alex? I am guessing he is a new comrade to me?" Melena smirked a little at the thought of 'comrade' and that fact this Alex seemed to be happy for her to be in her guild even though it was maybe for the fact she was female and not for her. Well if this is true then he will be upset, I haven't got much... ''Melena thought as she looked down at her flat body. ''At least I'm not fat. "Come with me," said Jason. "The other Spartoi will be anxious to meet you. Odin, Aether, why don't you two catch up?" Although he wasn't showing it, he was angry with Aether, and wanted to get some distance between them before they entered a more physical dispute. He led Melena into the training room, not saying a word until he got there. Inside a man was lifting weights. He had orange and black hair, and multiple facial scars. "Luke!" called Jason. "I brought her." Luke put the weights down and walked over to the two smiling, much more welcoming than Jason. "You must be Melena. I'm Luke Gandor: Dragon Slayer of the Spartoi." "Where's Alex?" asked Jason. Out of nowhere, a young man suspended himself from the ceiling right in front of Melena, anchoring himself by a shadow. he was wearing sunglasses, and a purple scarf. "Hi I'm Alexander Doomkaiser." His plan was to frighten her with his sudden appearance. Melena waved to Luke and took mental notes of the fact he was a dragon slayer, a worthy rival possibly. Melena looked around at the training room, happy to see somewhere she could train maybe in peace? Then a young boy came down making Melena jump a little. "Nice to meet ya Alex!" Melena said with a small laugh. She was happy to meet her new comrades although the fact one had many scars and the other seemed to wear sunglasses underground made her want to question things but something seemed to put her in her place and whisper to her that today was not the day to ask so many questions. "What kind of magic do you use Alex if Luke uses Dragon Slayer magic?" Melena asked carefully, scared in case she came off aggressive but then again she knew these people had came from a dark guild as well which made her feel a little better but even so she knew better than to be too relaxed. It was a bad trait of hers of hiding and so she was determined not to hid forever. "I use Metal-Make magic and Hair Magic!" Melena told them with another smile. Stay friendly and stay smiling as well as getting to know your new friends... ''Melena seemed to remind herself in her head. Alex stared at her, as if he was trying to look into her soul. He poked her cheek, still upside down. "You're cute. I like you already." He lowered himself to the ground and landed on his feet. "You want to know what kind of magic I use, huh? Well obviously I use Shadow Magic, but I'm not sure if you could handle my other one." He lifted the sunglasses for just an instant, revealing his Lunar Eclipse Eyes, the eyes that could instill terror into anyone that looked into them. At first Melena thought, ''can't handle what? ''But after quickly looking at Alex's eyes he knew what he meant but even so she couldn't take her eyes off them. She wanted too but couldn't. "Well you don't see them everyday do you?" Melena mumbled, still looking at the red balls in Alex's eyes. It interested Melena but yet she didn't ask, she already thought that everyone thought she was rather nosy. Somehow she forced a small smile to show that she wasn't going to judge and Melena knew she would be a little more than relieved when the glasses go back on. "Shadow magic huh? You have some ninja skills then," Melena half-joked half-seriously said to Alex. Then she looked at Jason, "this is all of us right? One small group of ex-dark mages." Melena said with a small chuckle. Melena was a bit nervous now, unsure of what other secrets or past the others has had. "Yeah that's us," said Luke. "The three of us actually use to be in a guild together, Black Void. It was disbanded however after our motives were discovered. You've actually been improving greatly in your abilities Alex." "You've noticed?" said Alex playfully. "I think I could beat Jason now if I wanted to." "There's no chance," said Jason indifferently. "Oh come on master, you're not even gonna humor your student." Without warning, Alex leaped at Jason, covering his arm in shadows and swinging them at him, aiming to slash him across the chest. It was all over in a second. Alex's head crashed into the ground, cracking it. The Mage laid defeated on the floor. "That's Jason for you," said Luke. "He's so strong, only three people in our guild have a chance at beating him. His cousin, our master, Aether Cade, his mother Miriam, and the our second strongest S-Class Mage William Harrison. Alex jumped back to his feet, bruised, but still functional. "Hey Melena. We know what you can do, but you haven't shown us yet. How would like to spar with one of us?" Alex's playful matter made Melena smile, she liked Alex. Luke was rather casal which made her like him a bit but she knew she would get to know more about him when he was in battle most likely. Jason... now it surprised her. She could feel the strength Jason had but she thought Alex would at least get one hit on him but the crash to the ground made Melena realize Jason was on a whole different level. Hearing who was the strongest in the guild made Melena nod as she took in all in - she was a bit shocked to hear the fact his mother could possibly take Jason down - but afterwards the word 'spar' made her smile. She hadn't attacked anyone, even Odin luckily so no in Dragon Gunfire had a idea of what she was like during battles. "Who would like to challenge me then?" She looked more at Luke and Alex, she didn't feel like she could defeat Jason unless she did some more training. Melena then couldn't help but provoke them; "Although you wouldn't be able to defeat a pretty women like me any day!" A glint appeared behind the lenses of Alex's glasses, a faint red, then it immediately disappeared. "She's asking for it now," he said. "Clear the area, a smack down's about to commence." He cracked his neck as shadows began to leak from his body, appearing as tendrils that moved like that of an octopus. "I'll give you the first move," said Alex as he removed his glasses. "That is, if you can even move." He aimed to look in her eyes, the intimidating stare of the Lunar Eclipse Eyes was enough to cause any man fear. He had trained his in order to evoke fear from the Etherious, even Jason was not immune to the fear induced by the Lunar Eclipse Eyes. Melena was pumped, ready to see Alex in action but a soon as the glasses came off Melena felt a chill down her back. The eyes looked like they could go on forever if it was for the red dots in the middle staring right a her. ''There eyes, calm yourself. ''Melena tried to tell herself but even so she had the first move she couldn't move. She just stared. She managed to take one of her eyes away to see that Jason and Luke had really made space for them, she wasn't expect any cheers from the group but looking at them Melena had her doubts she would be able to do this. Melena stared and stared. ''Punch him! ''A voice inside her head chanted. ''Punch him! ''And then it went on and on and soon, very slowly, Melena hair at the back of her formed a fist. Melena, still looking deep into Alex's eyes, still in complete fear, manged to try and punch Alex with her hair magic with all her might. "Your eyes are quite scary man but I can't just lose like that!" With than Melena closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her plan to use her senses other than her sight to guide her. She didn't want to be paralyzed in fear again with Alex's eyes. Even in her head although, the eyes were taunting her, the images still there but she felt better and ready to start throwing punches at Alex. "Let the best women win!" Melena mumbled without thinking as she readied herself. Alex smiled a smug smirk at the incoming attacks. "Hair? Really?" His forearms became cloaked in shadows, and he held them out in front of him, catching the attacks. "Carbyne." He suddenly yanked on her hair, aiming to pull her in closer, and would follow up with his Shadow Snare technique, wrapping her in his shadows, and restricting her movement. As Melena felt the smug voice off of Alex she knew she may be doomed but she has never been one to give up quickly. As her hair was yanked Melena grunted and started to pull her body the other way but a cold chill filled her body quickly and a tightness squeeze her body. Melena, unsure what to do continued to try and go away from where she was yanked but the shadows stopped her from going far. With great effort Melena managed to use her metal-make magic to make her hair into scythes and start to cut at the shadows, although she was sure it wouldn't do much. Melena then tried a attack on Alex, sending metal pins towards him. ''Who knew I would miss sight so easily. Utilizing the Carbyne technique again, Alex moved his shadows in front of him. The needles produced by Melena sunk into the shadows like steel into stone. They cracked the shadows, but did not break them. More shadows poured out from his body, surrounding him in a thick cloud of shadows. Melena had successfully freed herself from his grasp beforehand, but Alex would ensure that she wouldn't get the chance to counterattack. With the shadows surrounding his body, they suddenly became rigid, and pointed directly at his adversary. "Shadow Slash," he chanted, as a multitude of bladed shadows went straight towards Melena, capable of cutting through steel. Being blind was really not helping Melena. She was hearing cracks, whooshes and other sorts of sounds but she had no idea if they doing anything for her or against her. She wanted to look, just to scope out what was going on, but knew all to well what would happen if she dared a peek. Cold, moist air and shadows did not help Melena either. She was tense - which helped a little since she was ready to move at a moments notice - which made her rather angry and scared. More sounds and Melena was growing tenser. She gripped out hands and balled them into a fist, and each sound equaled to them getting tighter till she drew blood. She felt the warm liquid run down her hand then it was like they froze in her hands after a few seconds. Melena heard Alex's chant and started to shake, the simple word slash did not appeal to her. Is he going to end up killing me!? ''Melena thought suddenly but quickly shook her head. ''There's no time for such thoughts, I need to run away, but how!? ''Melena tried to imagine the room as quick as she could then she had an idea. She crouched down, made her hair like hands once again, pushed with all her might of the floor and jumped. Melena felt her hair get slashed and her head gained a bump. She had hit the roof of the place and was in pain. But alive. "I think I had enough, good battle!" Melena cried out loud, smiling a little. The words were true but came out shaky. ''Train, that's what I am here for after all. Train. Alex put his glasses back on. "Thanks." He walked over to Melena. "Sorry about the whole scaring you thing. Hope I didn't emotionally scar you. That tends to happen a lot." He held out his hand for a shake. "Friends?" Melena slowly opened her eyes, the lights now hurting them but as soon as she could see again she saw Alex with his sunglasses on. Looking at him he could see that he was honest with the fact that he scarred people and going though that, she certainly could see why. "I admit, I was scared of you, but I shouldn't be scarred, there has been worse things I have seen Flora do..." The plain truth made Melena sigh a little but she took Alex's hand and shook it. "We are friends however, one of these days, I will train harder and beat you!" Melena told him, determination in her eyes. She couldn't help but think how hard the others will be to beat. ''One step at a time Mel, and anyway, I don't have to really prove my strength to them much since their not going to attack me, we are comrades now after all! ''The thought settled Melena a lot! "Good!" exclaimed Alex while shaking her hand. "Your hands are really soft." "Is he flirting?" Luke quietly asked Jason. "You're asking the wrong person," he answered. Melena smiled, not hearing the whispers of her new comrades. "Thank you Alex, your rather kind," Melena has never been use to people complimenting her, never minding the simple act of flirting so Melena was unaware. With another warm smile, Melena was happy to be part of the family, she was now somebody and not nobody with lots of new friends!